When do I actually pick a branch?

September 9th, 2013, 11:20 AM

Just finished BCT at Ft. Sill, OK. I'm going before the board in November.
I was wondering when I will be required to actually pick the specific branch I'm interested in. I ask this because tentatively, on the orders I had BEFORE I left for BCT it said I was assigned to a FA unit near my hometown. However, I was never asked if this is what I wanted to do. I'd like to branch Infantry and was wondering if I need to worry about getting that switched now or if I won't have to worry about that until OCS/BOLC.

On paper, they have to put you in a unit vacancy somewhere. That FA unit is just to hold you until you complete OCS.

Are you doing Accelerated or Traditional OCS, or do you know yet? You'd have to have a unit, branch, and tentative slot before you left for AOCS. Otherwise, you'll submit your branch choices during Phase II of Traditional OCS and likely won't find out what you are going to get until very near the end of Phase II. Some soldiers I met during Phase III actually found out right before or during Phase III. It is all state dependent.

Comment

Just finished BCT at Ft. Sill, OK. I'm going before the board in November.
I was wondering when I will be required to actually pick the specific branch I'm interested in. I ask this because tentatively, on the orders I had BEFORE I left for BCT it said I was assigned to a FA unit near my hometown. However, I was never asked if this is what I wanted to do. I'd like to branch Infantry and was wondering if I need to worry about getting that switched now or if I won't have to worry about that until OCS/BOLC.

Thanks for any advice.

The NG is 51 'little armies' doing things 51 different ways. Some states do an OML (Order of Merit), some
states pick you a branch based on needs, some states just flat out put it on you to talk to units and find a
paragraph and line number.

If I were you I would ask my OSM. Do you know if there is an IN unit near you? Your recruiter may
have been doing you a favor - as opposed to a 4 hour drive for drill weekend.